June 1, 2011

Maybe not such a great idea after all

On Friday, having missed a longish spin on Thursday I aimed to get the TT bike out to firstly cycle into the shop but then to actually get out in the afternoon and do a little rectification of my lacking leg power.

I wanted to practise some intervals I'd been reading about that promised to "build serious power in your pins" the idea is to work in intervals 10-20 seconds on of really stomping through the pedals to fire up the big muscle fibres and then recovering over 2-5 minutes or whatever is necessary to recharge the legs.

Plan is to spin out to Loughrea for a swim in the afternoon, usually some club members ready about 5pm for a dip and to then 'power' my way home in time for a decent recovery meal.

What I didn't plan on was the dirtiest turn in the weather. It took roughly 50mins to cycle out to Loughrea with a slight tail wind from Oranmore but it was lashing rain all the way. I just kept it nice and steady on the way out trying to balance the feeling in my legs with holding a steady heart rate. This involved continual changing of the gears to keep cadence & momentum nice and steady.

I was glad to get to the Lake to dry off a bit! I was cold and wet and putting on the wetsuit helped me to warm up. I met up with Tony & Shane who were finishing a run (in the same conditions) and Shane was joining me in the water.

If you've ever seen the movie Face/Off you can picture the scene of the 'unmasking' of Casper Troy & Sean Archer. Well that's how my face felt going into the Baltic freeze of the Lake. I actually though my face would freeze in a grimace with the cold. Shane and I ended up doing a fairly swift, fairly lively swim out to the island / rock and back. For some insane reason we stopped at the island and had a chat!

Anyway out we got and in fairness to him, Shane offered to throw the bike in his van and give me a lift back and stupidly I declined and said I'd be fine! Wetsuit off and in the bag, gear packed, a quick Powerbar Ride and back on the bike to head for the coast.

There was a definite head wind on the way back so I pumped it for a bit to get warmed up and then settled into pushing a big gear at a very steady state through the flats and the climbs (short drags really) all the way home. The wind added the effect of at least another gear so my legs really got a workout.

I have the data on Polar Personal Trainer I simply need to do a bit more work on the upload so I can figure out how to share the info easily. All told between Lough Corrib and the work today I've about 200km done on the bikes this week, so I'll call it a good one.